hashtag Fail, Brands that misused hashtags

You may think that hash-tagging and use hashtag on your posts is a simple task, however you’ll be surprised that some of the big brands actually failed using it

Many brands are using hashtags within their communications (websites, tv, billboards, etc) and campaigns and the costumers?! they already understand what it means when they see # and if the message is appealing they will engage with it. However many of those brands fail to choose the right hashtag, which leads to waste of time and especially money on bad investment. Here are 2 (and half) examples of how hashtag can go wrong:

Who’s Jacket?

Have you ever seen #NewJacket on social media, Do you know which brand is promoting it? Is it brand new hashtag or was it been used long-long before any company “adopted” it? So guess what?! Armani Exchange is the brand that is promoting this hashtag on their communications, (spotted it in their NYC stores and also on their website). When i saw it in the store (not online) I assumed that they are trying to encourage their costumer to share their new jackets’ photos with the world; But wait, are they supposed to share their new AX jacket or just any new jacket? Will anyone ever noticed that it’s AX trying to boost this so so common and obvious #? The answer is no, unless there will be thousands of photos of AX jackets in the hashtag (by the way, on Instagram you spotted Zara’s, Nike, Adidas Jackets as well on this #, clearly because it’s not unique hashtag for AX). What’s wrong with #NewAXJacket ?

First? Firsts? were you FIRST to use this hashtag #First?

You probably came across #First many times; I’ve seen hundreds of people on social saying they were #First (“#First like!!!”), but would you believe me if I say that two different brands are promoting it? hence, spending money with call to action to share content with this so common hashtag? Can you tell which brands failed with this one? Which brand is “First”? Are they really #First? “Vodafone Firsts”- is the name of Vodafone campaign that started in January 2014 and their call to action was to share content using the hashtag #First.

When I first saw it I was thinking to myself “Are you kidding me? Your campaign is called Vodafone firsts your website is www.firsts.com and your hashtag is #First? Oh wait, are you kidding me again?! Did you choose hashtag that already had more than 200K photos on Instagram and thousands of tweets using #First. How are you planning to measure this campaign? Who will you know which content was really generated for your #First? Wouldn’t it be so easy if they choose with #VodafoneFirsts?” . For Vodafone sake I would say that at least they invested in CEO, because if you search #First, you will see that the hashtag is related to Vodafone. however, how many of you were searching hashtag on Google and not via the social media platforms?

Apparently Vodafone are not alone calling costumers to use #First – Europcar does that too calling costumer to try #First the new Peugeot 308. I am not even sure that there’s a call to action to share that #First try with the car and yet once again, you’ll never know that Europcar is running this campaign, you may that it’s Peugeot if you will really see high volume of car module content in the hashtag, which , no offence, I doubt.

There are so good example, this is one of them

And Since I want to end this with positive note here’s example of good use of hashtag- #MyCalvins. Can you “guess” which brand is doing it? Wasn’t hard, right? Calvin Klein. I find Calvin Klein’s # brilliant and yet so simple. It includes the brand’s name, but also makes somewhat connection between the costumer and the brand “this is #MyCalvins, not yours, Mine!”. Well done CK for that.

So next time when you think of running a campaign, don’t underestimate the importance of Hashtag. Tomorrow I will publish my tips of how to choose good hashtag. #TheEnd (yet, not unique hashtag).